Unbreak Me (Second Chances #1)

by Heather D'Agostino

  They moved to get in line to place their orders just as a short brunette came up tying her apron. “What can I get you?” she smiled at them.

  Before Melanie could open her mouth, William rambled off, “Caramel latte, no foam, and a small house blend with cream and sugar.”

  Melanie looked over at him and dropped her mouth open.

  “What?” he smirked. “It’s not like you ever ordered anything else. I mean at least in the ten plus years you went out for coffee with me anyway.”

  “You’re right,” she smiled “I’m just surprised that you remembered after all this time.”

  “I’m reliable like that,” he chuckled as he handed her the latte and made his way over to an empty table.

  “So, how are you settling in?” he reached across the table and clasped her hand.

  “Ok, I guess,” she huffed. “Katie isn’t happy about being here, and she’s making sure that I know it constantly. We’re finally settled in to a nice brownstone about ten minutes from here, so that’s a plus. Mom, Elizabeth, and Megan are glad to have me nearby again.” She glanced out the window with a wistful look in her eyes. “It’ll get better,” she sighed.

  “Yes, it will,” he reassured her. “Give it time.”

  “Well, enough about my sappy life. How are you? Any women in your life right now?” she cocked her head to the side to smile at him.

  “There’s been a few, but no one special,” he chuckled.

  “Well, we’ll have to fix that,” she giggled.

  “Are you offering?” his smile got wider as he watched a dark blush spread over her cheeks.

  “William…I…” she sputtered.

  “I’m kidding, relax,” he threw his head back in laughter. “But it is nice to see you smile.”

  She shook her head and pulled her hands down into her lap, knotting them together, a nervous habit she’d had since she was a child. Just as she began to speak again, William’s beeper went off. Letting out a sigh, he pulled it from his belt and looked down at the number.

  “I have to go, I’m being paged from Emergency,” he sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” he questioned.

  “Yep, bright and early,” she chimed.

  The beeper went off again and William shook his head, grabbed his coat, and began grumbling under his breath as he raced toward the door. Offering a sideways glance over his shoulder, he waved and dashed back in the direction of the hospital.

  Melanie glanced down at her half finished latte and began spinning the cup in her hand and smiling to herself.

  March 1993

  “You really think so?” she laughed as she pulled the backpack higher onto her shoulder.

  “Yes, Mel. He likes you,” William rolled his eyes at her giddiness. “I’ve seen the way Sean stares as you.”

  “But he’s a senior,” she whined. “Why would he be interested in a sophomore?”

  “I don’t know,” William threw his hands in the air. “Maybe because you’re smart, and pretty, and I don’t know… a girl,” he chuckled.

  “Will you talk to him for me?” she looked at him wistfully. “Please, I won’t ask you for any more favors for a long time.”

  “Mel, fixing you up with “Mr. I’m Perfect” is not my idea of fun,” he stopped walking and faced her.

  “Please William, just ask him if he likes me,” she stuck her lip out and began to pout.

  “Are we really back to middle school right now? I mean really, why don’t you just pass him a note or something?” He crossed his arms over his chest, letting out a big huff.

  “Please?” she begged again.

  Finally he threw his arms in the air and gave up. “Alright I’ll talk to him, but you owe me big time.”

  She grinned as she realized her victory and jumped up to give him a hug, “Thanks!” she squealed.

  August 2012

  She smiled at the memory. It was one of many happy ones she had over the years with William. Things had to get better for her. Having him back in her life was definitely a move in the right direction.

  She finished her latte and tossed the empty cup in the trash as she walked out the door. Letting the afternoon sun warm her face, she slowly made her way back to her new office to finish setting up and getting ready for her new life.

  .

  Chapter 2

  Katie stood in front of the large brick building as students rushed around her chatting and laughing. It was a beautiful day out, but Katie was too irritated to enjoy it. Just as she started to climb the steps to enter the doors of St. Vincent’s, a boy crashed into her from behind.

  “Hey, watch it!” she shouted.

  “Sorry,” he called over his shoulders.

  She slung her backpack up higher on her shoulder and made her way into the main office.

  “Can I help you?” the secretary asked.

  “Yeah, I’m new. I need to pick up my schedule,” she grumbled.

  “What’s your name?” the woman asked.

  “Katie, Katie Lewis,” she responded.

  “Let’s see, here you go,” the woman handed her a small piece of paper. “Hold on a minute and I’ll get a student to help you find your way to class.”

  Just then a short girl with dark blonde hair came around the corner. “Samantha, can you show Katie here where her locker is and help her get to class?” the woman asked.

  “Sure Miss Trammel,” the girl responded.

  “Hey, I’m Samantha Bing, but my friends call me Sam,” the girl held out her hand. “And you are?”

  “Katie Lewis,” Katie huffed.

  “You don’t seem to excited to be here,” Sam laughed.

  “Is it that obvious?” she smirked.

  “Here, let me see your schedule,” she grabbed the piece of paper out of Katie’s hands. “You’ve got three classes with me,” she bounced up and down. “Let’s find your locker and I’ll introduce you to some of my friends.”

  The two girls walked down the hall dodging students and made their way to locker 212. It just so happened to be two down from Sam’s.

  “This is great,” Sam smiled. “You’re right here.”

  She turned the lock to open it and shifted her backpack. Just then a brown haired girl and a dark skinned boy came strolling up the hall laughing.

  “Hey Hannah,” Sam waved. “Come over here and meet Katie.”

  The two turned and made their way toward the girls. Before they got too close, Sam leaned into Katie’s shoulder and whispered, “Hannah’s dad is totally loaded. I’m talking major dough.”

  “Katie, this is Hannah Montgomery and Anthony Edwards,” Sam gestured to the couple.

  “Hi,” Katie waved.

  “Hannah, Anthony, this is Katie Lewis. She just moved here from….?” Sam stammered.

  “New York,” Katie filled in. “Are you two?” she pointed her finger back and forth between Hannah and Anthony.

  “Friends,” they answered at the same time.

  “My Dad doesn’t let me date,” Hannah rolled her eyes. “He says I’m too young for kissing boys.”

  As the group was chatting, Katie happened to look up and see the boy who crashed into her outside. He was placing books in his locker and kept glancing over at her. He was tall and thin and had messy black hair. He looked like someone out of a rock video.

  “Who’s that?” she twisted her head in his direction.

  Him?” Hannah questioned. “That’s Zach Lawson. Stay away from him. He’s trouble.” she warned.

  “Oh Hannah, you sound like your dad. I think he’s cute, in a bad boy way,” Sam gushed.

  “If you say so,” Hannah threw her head back. “We need to get to class. I can’t be late again.”

  “Katie has history first period,” Sam pointed at the piece of paper. “Can you walk with her?” she pointed at Hannah.

  “Yeah, I have that class too,” Hannah shrugged. “You can walk with me.”

  “I’ll see you guys at lunch,” Anthony waved.

 
“Say hi to Mr. Adams,” Hannah giggled.

  Katie turned her head with a questioning look, “Mr. Adams, who‘s that?”

  “He teaches shop here. He‘s so hot!” Hannah sighed as she closed her eyes and smiled.

  “Hannah,” Sam giggled. “He’s a teacher.”

  “Yeah, and he’s cute. It makes coming here worth it.“ she laughed and began walking in the direction of her first class.

  “I don’t see him except after school when he coaches the baseball team,” Hannah shrugged. “It’s the same time I have soccer practice. Do you play any sports?” she asked as they rounded the corner to come to room 103.

  “Sports? No, I’m more the academic type. My mom’s a doctor and that’s what I hope to do when I grow up. She’s always telling me I have to have exceptional grades to go to med school. The whole, ‘it all starts here’ speech,” she waved her arms around. “What about you?” she paused. “Do you know what you want to do?”

  “Well, I’ve thought about something with animals. My dad says I’m gifted, that I’ve never met an animal that I can’t befriend,” she giggled as they walked through the door and took a seat.

  “Mr. Simon, this is Katie Lewis,” Hannah drug Katie over to the teacher. “She’s new.”

  “Well hello Katie, where did you move from?” the teacher asked.

  “New York,” she answered.

  “Well, we’re glad to have you here. You can take that seat right behind Hannah over there,” he pointed to the last row next to the wall of windows.

  Katie walked over and plopped down behind Hannah. When she looked to her right she saw Zach staring at her.

  “What?” she rolled her eyes.

  “Nice legs,” he smirked.

  She blushed and shifted in her seat. Just then, Hannah turned around and smiled.

  “Mr. Simon is a great teacher. I had him for history last year. He’s not hard on the eyes either,” she smirked.

  Mr. Simon was tall and blonde and built like a model. He wore thin, black-rimmed glasses that he kept hooking in the front of his shirt when he wasn’t using them to read. Katie kept finding herself zoning out as she stared.

  As she was daydreaming, she felt Zach nudge her foot. “You’re going to burn a hole in him if you stare anymore.”

  Embarrassed, Katie rolled her eyes at him. “What’d you care?”

  “I don’t, but you should fantasize about someone you actually have a chance with,” he whispered.

  “What, like you?” she huffed.

  “Well, for starters, yeah,” he puffed his chest out.

  “As if,” she laughed.

  “Am I interrupting anything, Mr. Lawson?” Mr. Simon asked.

  “No sir, just telling Katie here that she needs a partner for the project that you assigned last week,” Zach smirked.

  “She can work with me,” Hannah volunteered.

  “Thanks,” Katie tapped her shoulder.

  “No problem,” she smiled. “We’ll talk about it at lunch.”

  The rest of the morning droned by with no more confrontations with Zach. That ended up being the only class they had together. Katie promised to look for Hannah and Sam at lunch so they could sit together. After talking with Hannah, Katie found that both girls and Anthony were in the ninth grade, the same as she was.

  When she arrived at the cafeteria, Katie searched for Hannah. She was easier to find than Sam. She was taller and her voice seemed to carry. When she spotted them, she trudged over and plopped down. She pulled her lunch out of her backpack and began spreading it out in front of her.

  “What are you eating?” Anthony scrunched his nose up.

  “Fresh avocado, sprouts, organic milk, and an apple,” Katie shrugged. “My mom doesn’t keep junk food in the house,” she pointed at the pizza in front of him.

  “How can you eat that?” he laughed.

  “Easy,” she popped a piece of avocado in her mouth. “See”?

  “Here, let me feed you,” he laughed. He went through the lunch line piling pizza, fries, and a soda on a tray. “Here, eat this,” he joked. “We can’t have you blowing away.”

  “Thanks, I don’t remember the last time I had fries,” she sighed as she slowly placed a fry in her mouth. Her mom never got fast food. That’s one of the downfalls about having a doctor for a mom; she always had to eat healthy.

  The group laughed and joked their way though the rest of lunch. Katie was finally smiling a real smile. The first one she’d had since moving to Boston. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all she thought. She was making what seemed to be good friends and the school wasn’t that bad.

  The group finished eating and tossed their trays in the trash. When they walked out of the cafeteria to head to their lockers, another teacher was coming through the doors. Katie looked up just in time to see one of the hottest teachers at the school. As she walked by staring at him, he smiled at the group. And she thought Mr. Simon was good looking! Where do they get the teachers for this school? she mused. Just then, Hannah broke her from her thoughts.

  “Hey, Mr. Adams,” she waved.

  “Hey girls,” he nodded.

  “That’s Mr. Adams?” Katie’s mouth dropped open.

  “Yep, see what I mean?” she laughed.

  Wow, Katie thought. Mom was right, this is a great school. Mr. Adams was tall, not as tall as Mr. Simon, and had well defined muscles. He had broad shoulders and a muscular chest. His hair was a light brown and came just to his shoulders, and his eyes. They were the brightest blue she’d ever seen. She blushed when she realized she was staring.

  The rest of the day went off without a hitch. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Katie yelled as she trotted down the steps and headed in the direction of the subway.

  “You headed for the L train?” she heard someone behind her. When she turned she saw Zach jogging toward her.

  “What do you care?” she shot him a glare.

  “I was going to offer to walk you home,” he smiled.

  “No thanks, you’re wasting your time,” she sighed.

  “What? You don’t want to be friends with me?” he rolled his eyes.

  “You don’t seem like the kind of guy that has girls that are just friends,” she glared at him.

  “Well, I don’t, but I’m willing to try if that will make you stop hating me.”

  “I don’t even know you,” she laughed.

  “Well, here’s your chance,” he held his hands out in surrender.

  “Uh, no,” she turned on her heel and marched toward the steps. He just wasn’t going to give up was he? Yes, this wasn’t such a bad move after all, mom.

  Chapter 3

  Melanie had come to the realization that staying in New York for so long after Sean’s death had been a mistake, and that the sooner she could get her life back to normal, the sooner she could begin to heal. She hadn’t been able to move on before now, because every time she turned around something reminded her of him - places they’d been, shows they’d seen together... even the hospital held memories. Here her memories were of her family and friends. Here she could move on and be happy, which is what Sean would have wanted.

  After spending a few hours finishing setting up her office, Melanie went to check the surgery board, wanting to make sure that she had her schedule written down correctly, to be able to get into things as quickly as possible. After checking the board and speaking with Dr. Green, Melanie grabbed her things and headed to her car. She didn’t have anything scheduled until tomorrow afternoon, and it was a simple procedure. Tubes in the ears, that wouldn’t be too daunting of a task. She wanted to get home quickly so she could cook a nice dinner for herself and Katie, and hear all about Katie’s day. She hoped that her daughter had made some friends and had enjoyed her classes.

  She had decided to make spaghetti, Katie’s favorite, for dinner, so she stopped by the local bakery on the way home to grab some fresh bread. She’d hoped that they could talk over dinner. Katie had been brooding over the move for th
e last few days. Melanie wanted to get to the bottom of it.

  As she stood in the bakery, yeast, cinnamon, sugar, and other delicious smells assaulted her. She loved the smell of fresh bread and tried as often as possible to stop and buy some on her way home from work. It had been her and Sean’s universal symbol that one had something to tell the other. They both had agreed on this tradition after she’d told Sean she was pregnant with Katie. She was trying to continue the tradition with Katie, only Katie was at that age that she didn’t always want to talk.